Climate change may uproot 6 million annually:UN

uploaded by Milieunet December 8, 2008 at 10:31 pm
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Climate change may uproot 6 million annually:UN by Milieunet

It is areality that climate is all about change, it changes in every second.It is supportive to human existance after the same process of change.But the speed with which it is changing is alarming, this normal phenomena of change becomes disater when the its impact disturbes the human existence.The anthropogenic input in terms of accelerating the process of change is threatening the whole earth.We humans will be able to cope with this self generated problem in time or not, nobody can guess, but we can start working in the direction to control the disaster to its lowest potential. 


The impact of climate change could uproot around six million people each year, half of them because of weather disasters like floods and storms, a top U.N. official said on Monday.

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) was making plans based on conservative estimates that global warming would force between 200 million and 250 million people from their homes by mid-century, said L. Craig Johnstone, the U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees.

"That means a displacement of something like six million people a year -- that's a staggering number," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the December 1-12 U.N. climate talks in Poland.

"Our operating assumption is to cover the minimum ... but we're not anywhere near being able to cover that right now," he said.

Johnstone said relief agencies would need to aid almost three million people a year displaced by sudden disasters.

Another three million would likely migrate due to gradual changes like rising sea levels, and be more able to plan.

UNHCR statistics show 67 million people were uprooted around the world at the end of 2007, 25 million of them because of natural disasters.

Johnstone said steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change would not be enough to prevent rising disasters or conflict over resources, which would hit the poorest people hardest.

"You can expect that as you have droughts, as you have scarcity of resources ... it will increase tensions and it will increase conflict," he said.

But plans could be made to deal with disasters because experts understood which areas of the world would likely be affected, he said.

Predicted global warming impacts include more intense storms hitting coastal areas in Asia and the Caribbean, and more frequent floods and droughts in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

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Title: Climate change may uproot 6 million annually:UN
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Created: Mon, 12/08/2008 - 10:31pm
Modified: Mon, 12/08/2008 - 10:31pm

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